If you have a short attention span, don't bother reading this as it's a stellar example of "long form" journalism sure to be appreciated only by hard core political junkies.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine...ustler/550925/
Yesterday's "big news" in the Mueller investigation was the guilty plea of Rick Gates, Manafort's long time business partner, with the explicit agreement and understanding that Mr. Gates will "cooperate" with Mr. Mueller. All the legal experts/pundits I listened to last night on cable TV described Mr. Gates's guilty plea as "ratcheting up the pressure" on Mr. Manafort to cut a deal [with Mueller] and cooperate; yet Mr. Manafort remains defiant. (Manafort's lawyer issued a statement saying, in effect, that he feels his former business partner should have stayed in the ring - just as he has chosen to stay in the ring - and fight.) So the natural question is: "With all these other folks copping deals and pleading guilty, why does Paul Manafort remain obstinate when a possible conviction means he could end up serving the rest of his life in prison?" (Manafort is 68 years old. A conviction on a single money laundering count carries a five year sentence and he's facing multiple counts.)
One possible explanation is that Paul Manafort is the type of character who has gotten away with so much for so long that he truly believes he's invincible - he actually believes he can beat Mueller. Paul Manafort might be suffering from DPD: Delusional Personality Disorder. (Leaked tweets sent by his daughter Andrea tend to support this theory.) This is one theory, but there may be a more profound reason for why Manafort is refusing to buckle. The second theory is more direct and it's a natural outgrowth of the article linked above. I call this theory the: "Prison Is Better Than Death" theory.
Let's suppose Paul Manafort goes to trial, his lawyer puts up a dazzling defense, the jury acquits, and Manafort walks. What are the odds on Paul Manafort staying healthy (and alive) while he walks the streets owing this Russian oligarch, Deripaska, $18,000,000.00? Over in Russia, "bad debts" to oligarchs are sometimes cancelled with a serving of hot lead delivered at high velocity - especially when the creditor has lost faith in the debtor's ability to repay. This theory might explain Manafort's stubbornness. In the long run he figures he'll probably be better off living out the rest of his life in a country club federal prison rather than copping out a deal to Mr. Mueller and eventually coming face-to-face with Oleg Deripaska - or one of his paid assassins.
This is another example of what happens when you play poker for higher stakes than you can afford.